Alfred Kinsey's Notes on Americans' Sex-Lives

The fact that many people feel bad about their pornography use, and that they may self-identify as ‘porn addicts’, demands attention and explanation. But the model of porn addiction currently offered does not present a model of healthy use against which perceived addiction can be judged.

Much of the research on pornography has been normative; it has assumed that the only healthy form of sexuality is vanilla sex (that is, not kinky) between monogamous couple-based partners for reasons beyond simply pleasure.

But a moment’s reflection shows that the widespread use of porn—and the search and views data that comes with it—is the most important development in our ability to understand human sexuality in, well . . . Actually, it’s probably the most important ever.